A new Marrakech museum is bringing Africa’s flourishing art scene home
The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) has launched in Marrakech. The museum soft-launched to locals in 2016, opening its doors to global audiences in February 2018. It’s a calculated move that’s paid off: nearly two years on, MACAAL impressed its first official flock of foreign visitors, as the international art community descended on the city for the inaugural Marrakech edition of 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair.
At the helm of the museum are Moroccan art collectors and father-and-son duo Alami Lazraq and Othman Lazraq, who have given the building ‘a second life’. MACAAL is their latest philanthropic endeavour, forming part of their charitable association Fondation Alliances. Under the directorship of Othman, MACAAL brings the Lazraq family’s private collection of contemporary African art – amassed over the past 40 years – to a broader audience.
Founded in 2009, Fondation Alliances is backed by Moroccan real estate group Alliances Group. Beyond MACAAL, Fondation Alliances oversees three other not-for-profit initiatives including the Al Maaden Sculpture Park (inaugurated 2013); bi-annual photography award La Chambre Claire; and the Passerelles (‘Bridges’) programme, connecting young locals with contemporary art and design through workshops, classes and museum visits.
‘This museum is a family museum – it is what I like to call a “human-scale” museum,’ explains the 29-year-old Othman, of the 900 sq m space. ‘We want to spread the word outside the country to make Morocco and Africa shine. We’re trying to give a voice to young, emerging and established artists, to be proud of their roots in their continent and not abroad.’
MACAAL is being inaugurated by ‘Africa Is No Island’, a group photography show comprising some 40 artists working on the continent, as well as in the wider context of African culture. Curators Baptiste de Ville d’Avray, Jeanne Mercier and Madeleine de Colnet, co-founders of African art platform Afrique in Visu, explain, ‘Africa is not an island but rather a connected territory, full of possibilities.’
The curators pull it off with remarkable conviction: Namsa Leuba, based between Switzerland Guinea, ‘examines African identity though the Western imagination’, while Italian/Senegal artist Maïmouna Guerresi’s taps into Islamic art with her regal portraits. More extraordinary still, are Ivory Coast photographer Joana Choumali’s images of the last generation of scarified African people, still performing superficial incisions on skin to create permanent identifying marks.
The carefully calibrated exhibitions design serves it well too. Othman explains he wanted it speak the same language as the local architecture: ‘The scenography brings intimacy to the space, and a sense of the medina inside the museum – there’s small routes, paths, labyrinths, archways.’ An accompanying sound installation by Italian artist Anna Raimondo brings the noises of Marrakech’s souks into the museum space (the communal spirit is reflected in the museum’s couscous feasts on Fridays).
Upstairs, the museum is displaying artworks from its permanent collection. Meanwhile, free shuttles to MACAAL run daily from Marrakech’s main square Jamaa el Fn. ‘I want to give back a place to be free and neutral – we don’t have that many places like this in Morocco,’ adds Othman. ‘MACAAL is bringing back the [African] voice here in Morocco, it is something very important touching all of us, as Moroccans, as Africans.’
INFORMATION
‘Africa Is No Island’ is on view until 24 August. For more information, visit the MACAAL website
ADDRESS
MACAAL
Al Maaden
Sidi Youssef Ben Ali
40000 Marrakech
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Molly Goddard on creating a community of contemporary brides
As new Molly Goddard bridal wear is released, the designer talks about creating romantic but real wedding dresses, while three recent brides tell the stories behind their own Goddard gowns
By Jack Moss Published
-
Palazzo Roma embodies the heritage of Roman noblesse
Palazzo Roma, part of the Shedir Collection, boasts eclectic and eccentric interiors by Giampiero Panepinto
By Luke Abrahams Published
-
Boise Passive House’s bold gestures support an environmentally friendly design
Boise Passive House by Haas Architecture combines sleek, contemporary design and environmental efficiency
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Ghana’s artists celebrated in new book by Manju Journal
‘Voices: Ghana’s artists in their own words’, from Manju Journal, celebrates 80 Ghanaian creatives
By Ugonna-Ora Owoh Published
-
Wallpaper* contributing editor Ekow Eshun considers time, identity and cultural memory in Ghana
‘In and Out of Time’, held at Gallery 1957 in Accra, Ghana, and curated by Wallpaper* contributing editor Ekow Eshun, celebrates the concept of Sankofa with artists including Malala Andrialavidrazana, Shiraz Bayjoo and Godfried Donkor
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Royal College of Physicians Museum presents its archives in a glowing new light
London photography exhibition ‘Unfamiliar’, at the Royal College of Physicians Museum (23 January – 28 July 2023), presents clinical tools as you’ve never seen them before
By Martha Elliott Published
-
‘The Art of Advocacy’: Aïda Muluneh’s vivid photographs are forces for change
At Efie Gallery, Dubai, Aïda Muluneh’s upcoming show, ‘The Art of Advocacy’ (12 January – 24 February 2023) surveys the photographer’s art as a tool for change, and debuts a new work, revealed exclusively here
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Museum of Sex to open Miami outpost in spring 2023
The Museum of Sex will expand with a new Miami outpost in spring 2023, housed in a former warehouse reimagined by Snøhetta and inaugurated with an exhibition by Hajime Sorayama
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Jenny Holzer curates Louise Bourgeois: ‘She was infinite’
The inimitable work of Louise Bourgeois is seen through the eyes of Jenny Holzer in this potent meeting of minds at Kunstmuseum Basel
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
‘A Show About Nothing’: group exhibition in Hangzhou celebrates emptiness
The inaugural exhibition at new Hangzhou cultural centre By Art Matters explores ‘nothingness’ through 30 local and international artists, including Maurizio Cattelan, Ghislaine Leung, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Liu Guoqiang and Yoko Ono
By Yoko Choy Last updated
-
Three days in Doha: art, sport, desert, heat
In our three-day Doha diary, we record the fruits of Qatar’s cultural transformation, which involved Jeff Koons, a glass palace of books, and a desert sunset on Richard Serra
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated